At the end of May, conventional political wisdom held that the Tea Party was in retreat. Then, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., one of the most senior members of Congress, finished second to Tea Party favorite Chris McDaniel in the Mississippi Republican primary June 3. An obscure third candidate pulled just enough votes to force a runoff. A week later, House Majority Leader Erik Cantor, R-Va., lost his seat in a stunning upset to a Tea Party candidate. Many pundits declared the Tea Party back with more muscle than ever.

What's the lesson from all this? It's a simple one we've all heard before: All politics is local.

Cochran kept his seat largely because Mississippi doesn't have party registration. As a result, voters can participate in whichever primary they choose. Technically they're supposed to support that party in the general election, but it's an unenforceable requirement. As a result, anyone who didn't vote in the June 3 Democratic primary could vote in the Republican runoff.

"Cochran was able to get black Democrats to vote for him in the runoff not just because he showed up and shook their hands, but because he convinced them that their interests were aligned and if they joined him, they'd get something out of the deal."

""If the only way the K Street wing of the GOP establishment can win is by courting Democrats to vote in GOP primaries, then we've already won," said Matt Kibbe of Freedom Works, one of the groups that poured money into Mississippi in support of McDaniel. "Tonight is proof that the K Street establishment is intellectually bankrupt, and we are going to have to clean it up."

"His biggest advantage was his large network in the Baptist community that knows and respects the congressman," Levinson wrote. "Before Lankford entered politics, he ran the Falls Creek Baptist Youth Camp. The largest Christian youth camp in the country says it hosts more than 50,000 people over eight weeks every summer."